A variety of human, animal and synthetic materials are currently described or used in medical procedures to augment, repair, or correct tissue defects.
For example, U.S. Published Patent Application No. 2003/0059460 discloses a hybrid polymer material comprising synthetic and natural polymers that can be used in regenerating living body tissue. The hybrid comprises a cross-linked naturally-occurring polymer and a biodegradation-absorbable synthetic polymer. A series of complicated process steps, however, must be undertaken to produce the hybrid material. In addition, the resulting hybrid material contains synthetic as well as naturally-occurring materials.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,541,023 describes the use of porous collagen gels derived from fish skin for use as tissue engineering scaffolds. Preparation of the collagen gels involves grinding the fish skin. Additionally, China Patent No. 1068703 describes a process for preparing fish skin for dressing burn wounds, involving separating fish skin from the fish body and placing the skin in a preservation solution of iodine tincture, ethanol, borneol, sulfadiazine zinc and hydrochloric acid in amounts sufficient to establish a pH value of 2.5-3. However, these products can be difficult to handle as the product of U.S. Pat. No. 6,541,023 is in a gel form and the product of China Patent No. 1068703 is stored in a solution.
In addition, a number of extracellular matrix products for medical uses have been derived from human skin (ALLODERM® Regenerative Tissue Matrix (LifeCell)); fetal bovine dermis (PRIMATRIX™ Dermal Repair Scaffold (TEI Biosciences)); porcine urinary bladder (MATRISTEM™ Extracellular Matrix Wound Sheet (Medline Industries, Inc.)); and porcine small intestinal submucosa (OASIS® Wound Matrix (Healthpoint Ltd.)). However, there is a need for improved products and methods to enhance wound healing and tissue repair. The present invention satisfies this need.